China's retail sales, industrial production beat expectations in August

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — China reported data Friday that showed a pickup in growth in August from the prior month. The data also came in above expectations across the board.

Retail sales grew by 5.4% in August from a year ago, topping a Reuters forecast for 3.5% growth. Catering sales rose by 8.4% in August from a year ago, while autos and food sales also grew significantly. That helped retail sales for the year through August grow by 0.5% from a year ago. Cosmetics and home furniture were among the few categories showing a sales decline in August from a year ago.

Online sales of physical goods rose by 12.8% in August from a year ago, faster than the 10.1% growth in July, according to CNBC calculations of official data.

Industrial production rose by 4.2% in August from a year earlier, beating the 3.8% increase estimated in a Reuters poll of analysts

Fixed asset investment for the first eight months of the year rose by 5.8%, above the 5.5% increase forecast by Reuters. Investment in manufacturing picked up the most, up by 10% from the year-ago period. Infrastructure investment grew at a slower pace than in July, on a year-to-date basis.

Real estate investment for the year declined further as of August, down by 7.4% from the year-ago period versus a 5.2% decline reported for the year as of July.

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The unemployment rate for young people ages 16 to 24 edged lower to 18.7% in August. It remained far higher than the overall unemployment rate in cities, which was 5.3% in August, down slightly from the prior month.

«Generally speaking, the national economy withstood